Big Chill Out

How serious is the gang strife in South Central L.A.? Check this out. To help promote a new album by Raheem, A&M; Records’ new rap contender, field personnel have been putting up posters and merchandising displays of Raheem in local record stores. But when Lisa Session, a field merchandising staffer for BMG Music Distribution (which handles several labels, including A&M;) was covering her South-Central turf, she had two different store managers refuse to display her Raheem poster. Why? “In the poster, he’s wearing a red hat, which is the Bloods’ colors. Both these stores were in Crips’ neighborhoods and they were worried that some of the Crips would come around, see the poster and shoot up the store. They didn’t want anyone blowing out their windows.”

Weren’t the store clerks being a little paranoid? “I doubt it,” Session said. “They even had kids come in, who were probably gang-bangers, and they’d say they wouldn’t buy Raheem’s record because he was wearing red. They wouldn’t touch anything with red on it. So the stores will stock the record, but they don’t want any displays (merchandising) about it. Of course, I’m disappointed, because I think Raheem is a really good young rap artist. But these store people know their neighborhood better than I do, and if they have fears of gang violence, then we’re not going to press them on the issue.”